McKinney Man Arrested for Drunken Fight Aboard AA Flight

Witnesses say man was drunk and verbally abusing other passenger

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Two passengers aboard Tuesday’s American Airlines flight from San Antonio to Dallas-Fort Worth got into a fist fight that left one man bloody and facing criminal charges.

According to a police report, 33-year-old Scott Prascher of McKinney was extremely intoxicated and sitting across the aisle from Oklahoma resident Declan Cooper.

Cooper was engaged in conversation with a fellow passenger discussing plans for the next leg of their flight. Prascher repeatedly interrupted the conversation and even cursed at Cooper, the report says.

Cooper tried to ignore the man but the last straw came when Prascher called Cooper an [expletive]. By this point, Cooper says he had endured enough and back-handed Prascher with his right hand, leaving Prascher bloody and even more agitated.

Witnesses say that it was at that point Prascher removed his seatbelt and hurled himself on top of Cooper and tried to hit the man.

Two other passengers, one of them an U.S. Army general, pulled Prascher off of Cooper and held him down for the rest of the flight.

Cooper wasn’t injured, although he did have Prascher’s blood on his shirt.

The pilot notified the FAA control tower of the incident and when the plane landed, two DFW Airport police officers were waiting.

The DFW Airport police and FBI agents decided that Cooper acted in self-defense and they declined to charge Cooper in the incident.

Prascher was charged with one count of public intoxication.

Published at 12:01 AM CDT on May 3, 2013 | Updated at 4:31 PM CDT on May 3, 2013